Vietos savivaldybių reformos Pirmosios Lietuvos Respublikos laikais

Abstract

The article deals with the reforms of governments in (he interwar Lithuania. The first reform of local government was carried out in 1924, the second - in 1929-1931. Although many researchers investigated the reforms, their causesand character are still obscure. Analysis of relevant and available documents confirms that there were two main reasons for local government reform: political and administrative. At the beginning of twenties, the Lithuanian Christian Democrats, the then-ruling political party, wanted to centralize government and sought to decrease the influence of their rivals - the Social Democrats and People's party in local governments. In 1924 the Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament), which was under the control of the Christian Democrats, passed amendments to the local governments law. According to these amendments, the post of chairman of a district's local government was combined with the post of chief of district. The juncture of these two important district posts enabled to centralize the government and avoid duplication of governmental functions; on the other hand, this was harmful to democracy. The reform of local governments in 1929-1931 had quite different causes than the reform of 1924. When at the end of 1926 the Nationalist party (tautininkai) seized power, their actual aim was to create an authoritarian regime. The aim was to concentrate power in the hands of President Antanas Smetona. According to the conception of strong President, the government of Lithuania was strictly centralized. To implement this concept, local governments were incorporated into the machinery of state, thus losing almost all of the independence they had had until the reforms. Reformers of local governments in Lithuania learnt from international experience and were influenced by political developments elsewhere in Europe.